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Sather Classical Lectures
Caesar's Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History
The ancient Romans changed more than the map of the world when they conquered so much of it; they altered the way historical time itself is marked and understood. In this brilliant, erudite, and exhilarating book Denis Feeney investigates time and its contours as described by the ancient Romans, first as Rome positioned itself in relation to Greece and then as it exerted its influence as a major world power. Feeney welcomes the reader into a world where time was movable and changeable and where simply ascertaining a date required a complex and often contentious cultural narrative. In a style that is lucid, fluent, and graceful, he investigates the pertinent systems, including the Roman calendar (which is still our calendar) and its near perfect method of capturing the progress of natural time; the annual rhythm of consular government; the plotting of sacred time onto sacred space; the forging of chronological links to the past; and, above all, the experience of empire, by which the Romans meshed the city state’s concept of time with those of the foreigners they encountered to establish a new worldwide web of time. Because this web of time was Greek before the Romans transformed it, the book is also a remarkable study in the cross-cultural interaction between the Greek and Roman worlds.
Feeney’s skillful deployment of specialist material is engaging and accessible and ranges from details of the time schemes used by Greeks and Romans to accommodate the Romans’ unprecedented rise to world dominance to an edifying discussion of the fixed axis of B.C./A.D., or B.C.E./C.E., and the supposedly objective “dates” implied. He closely examines the most important of the ancient world’s time divisions, that between myth and history, and concludes by demonstrating the impact of the reformed calendar on the way the Romans conceived of time’s recurrence. Feeney’s achievement is nothing less than the reconstruction of the Roman conception of time, which has the additional effect of transforming the way the way the reader inhabits and experiences time.
Feeney’s skillful deployment of specialist material is engaging and accessible and ranges from details of the time schemes used by Greeks and Romans to accommodate the Romans’ unprecedented rise to world dominance to an edifying discussion of the fixed axis of B.C./A.D., or B.C.E./C.E., and the supposedly objective “dates” implied. He closely examines the most important of the ancient world’s time divisions, that between myth and history, and concludes by demonstrating the impact of the reformed calendar on the way the Romans conceived of time’s recurrence. Feeney’s achievement is nothing less than the reconstruction of the Roman conception of time, which has the additional effect of transforming the way the way the reader inhabits and experiences time.
386 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 29, 2014
Feeney makes a point of thanking his editor at UC press for the title, but in truth the title is the worst feature of the book. You would be forgiven for guessing that "Caesar's Calendar" would be primarily about the Julian calendar reforms and you might well be disappointed to find that that topic occupies a very slight proportion of the book - indeed more is said about Augustus's development of it than about Caesar's work.
The book more than redeemed itself from its fault of misdirection though. The detailed discussion of how Greek calendars worked; how the ancients conceptualised time; how little importance was placed on the calendar and the solar cycle being in sync even when this was entirely possible; the political ramifications of which calendar was used; the names of the months; what starting a year in January was not self-evident... the list goes on. I very much enjoyed the exposition of passages in Cicero, Virgil, and above all, in Ovid and discussion of how Tacitus used dates in the ablative absolute to indicate a shift from the nominative consuls of Republican Livy was brilliant.
If you want a book on Caesar's Calendar, this is a poor choice; if you want a book on ancient conceptions of time and the political uses to which that can be put, it is excellent.
The book more than redeemed itself from its fault of misdirection though. The detailed discussion of how Greek calendars worked; how the ancients conceptualised time; how little importance was placed on the calendar and the solar cycle being in sync even when this was entirely possible; the political ramifications of which calendar was used; the names of the months; what starting a year in January was not self-evident... the list goes on. I very much enjoyed the exposition of passages in Cicero, Virgil, and above all, in Ovid and discussion of how Tacitus used dates in the ablative absolute to indicate a shift from the nominative consuls of Republican Livy was brilliant.
If you want a book on Caesar's Calendar, this is a poor choice; if you want a book on ancient conceptions of time and the political uses to which that can be put, it is excellent.
August 2, 2010
This book is what I would categorize as "comp lit" -- comparative literature.
For those readers who are looking for technical accounts of Roman time, it might be a good idea to read the first two and then the last two chapters. The first two chapters are a good introduction to concepts of time in the ancient world, the middle two are highly "comp lit" and the last two are the most technical.
I find the biggest flaw in the book is that it does not explain the mechanism of how Caesar came about his new calendar (borrowed from the Egyptians and Egyptian Greeks, with influence from Persian or older eastern cultures), not how he actually implemented it. "I am Caesar. New calendar."
But otherwise, an enjoyable read.
For those readers who are looking for technical accounts of Roman time, it might be a good idea to read the first two and then the last two chapters. The first two chapters are a good introduction to concepts of time in the ancient world, the middle two are highly "comp lit" and the last two are the most technical.
I find the biggest flaw in the book is that it does not explain the mechanism of how Caesar came about his new calendar (borrowed from the Egyptians and Egyptian Greeks, with influence from Persian or older eastern cultures), not how he actually implemented it. "I am Caesar. New calendar."
But otherwise, an enjoyable read.
December 20, 2010
Wow, great read! I'm very knowledgeable about ancient Rome and was still surprised by this book since it goes beyond ancient Rome and Greece to modern concepts of time. It clearly demonstrates how societies change as their concepts of time change. It's very difficult for modern humans to understand life in ancient societies wherein time was moveable and changeable. We are so imbued with the concept of concrete, universal time that the idea of there being no set time is almost inconceivable. This book brings the temporal world of the ancients to life and in the process, demonstrates how human societies have changed as we've incorporated a formalized concept of time into every aspect of our lives. I highly recommend this book!
January 18, 2013
Totally mind-blowing stuff. How did people date events in the absence of a shared external quantitative referent--i.e., how did figure out what happened in the same year when years weren't counted numerically? How did you translate between multiple temporal schemes in the absence of abstractions like 2011 CE? The answers to these questions are *seriously* cool.
January 6, 2015
This needs to be read again by me. Been some time (no pun) lol, since I've read this, and I was fascinated at how the author explains ancient methods of they conceptualized time.
I need to pick this up again.
I need to pick this up again.
academic
September 6, 2007While he was delivering the Sather Lectures, ††††††Corinne and I photoshopped Denis Feeney's face onto Pippin's head, because he looks like a Hobbit. AND he's from New Zealand.
February 4, 2016
Great book, made me rethink everything about our concept of time and how it compares to the ancients'. Not for the novice though, without a thorough background you can easily drown.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews